Showers force day 3 washout

Cape Town: Persistent rain washed out the entire third day’s play in the first Test between India and South Africa here. Heavy showers had been forecast for Sunday and they duly arrived early in the morning. It didn’t stop raining at all, instead picked up as the scheduled start time of play approached.

It did stop raining intermittently post scheduled lunch time. The groundsmen even got down to work, with the umpires looking around, and the Super Sopper was put to use as well. Three covers were taken off to aid in the drying process. But rain returned with a vengeance and put their efforts to nought. All the puddles, that had been cleared initially, were back on the outfield.

Post lunch, the Indian team too arrived at the ground. To use up the day, a few players as well as support staff made their way to the indoor nets facilities. Bhuvneshwar Kumar,

Jasprit Bumrah, Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun were spotted amongst the first bunch heading there.

Despite the loss of an entire day, the match is set for a result with two more days to come. Days four and five will now feature 98 overs each, but play will begin at the usual time of 1030 local.

On Day One, South Africa were bowled out for 286 runs in the first innings with Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking 4/87. India were reduced to 28/3 at stumps. On Day Two, India finished with 209 runs in their first innings, surrendering a 77-run lead. South Africa were 65/2 at stumps with an overall lead of 142 runs.

Rabada wants bigger lead
South African pacer Kagiso Rabada has ascertained that his side are slightly ahead in the first Test as they now enjoy an overall lead of 142 runs with eight wickets in hand.

“We are slightly ahead and we are not going to give in. We need more hard work but we will take it at the end of the day,” said Rabada.

“Obviously, we were hoping for a bigger lead but India are not going to roll over and we expected that. That is what they showed out there,” Rabada added.

“It is tough to say what fourth innings’ score we are looking for right now. We are looking at batting time, looking to bat normally and see what happens from there. We want to make it hard for them to score,” he added.

Steyn has been ruled of the remainder of the series with a bruised heel. This was his comeback Test but he lasted only 18.3 overs before an awkward landing on a foothole impeded his return. “It’s never nice for Dale Steyn because he’s just come back from injury, so just feeling very sympathetic for him. It’s not a nice thing, but we have to find a way to win this Test match. Luckily this time, we went with four seamers. So there’s three seamers now that have to do the work,” said Rabada.

Hardik Pandya scored 93 and took two wickets to bring India back into the game. “Looking at a player like him, he likes to play his natural game by playing shots. Sometimes that can put you on the backfoot or sometimes that can pay off for the bowling side. So it’s a bit of a gamble,” Rabada said.